A Kamloops Councilor is putting forward a motion at council, looking for support to ask the Federal Government to temporarily adjust the cap which limits international students to work a maximum of 20 hours a week.

Bill Sarai says his motion is an effort to address the rising costs of living for international students who are struggling to make ends meet while also helping to address the high number of job vacancies in Kamloops and across the country.

“Everything around them has gone up from housing to food, gasoline, utilities, everything,” Sarai said.

“The only thing they are not capable of doing is asking for an extra hour or two hours of work to offset some of those costs, so that is where we are asking for temporary relief for those international students because there are jobs out there not being filled because of that cap.”

He wants City of Kamloops – and other B.C. and Canadian municipalities – to voice their support to allow international students work 30 hours a week.

Sarai explains his motion is piggy backing off Bill M-44 headed to the floor in Ottawa this fall; and is looking to expedite temporary workers in Canada into permanent residents more quickly.

“There is a shortage of workers, from trades right down to servers and hospitality,” he said. “It is not just in the minimum wage jobs, it is everywhere so this is some industries that we can help with and we can also help our international students survive, so they don’t leave our country.”

Speaking on the NL Noon Report, Sarai says he has gotten letters of support from the Downtown and North Shore business improvement associations, the Kamloops Accommodation Association, the BC Hotels Association, and BC’s Alliance of Beverage Licensees.

In several of those letters, Sarai says the groups say many local businesses in Kamloops are struggling to keep their doors open.

“This I hope is picked up across B.C. and other municipalities get behind this and tell Ottawa that small businesses, especially in our town, are struggling and some are on the verge of very limited hours and if they don’t have income coming in , they cannot pay their leases or their food orders,” he said.

“There are two sides to this, the students want to work and the industries need them and until we get back to some kind of normalcy where those jobs are filled on a regular basis this is a lifeline we need to throw them.”

Sarai’s notice of motion is set to be discussed at the August 30 City Council meeting.